Opinion

Why do some unions insist on shooting themselves in the foot? The current hysterical media campaign by San Francisco’s Building Construction Trades Council against the proposed implementation of voter-passed Measure J, establishing a Historical Preservation Commission, is a textbook example of how to do it. -more-

CLIMATE ACTION PLAN -more-

As Berkeley tackles major planning issues this year, let’s note very well some things voters said last November about historic preservation. In Berkeley preservation-minded voters decisively rejected Measure LL. And like-minded San Franciscans approved that city’s Proposition J—by a quite similar decisive margin. -more-

First and foremost, a Berkeley Climate Action Plan should be a community effort. It should not be a top-down mandate for recommendations that might be effective in other areas, but make little sense and might actually be counterproductive in Berkeley’s unusually mild climate. -more-

Berkeley Public Library recently invited library users to supply “ideas on what has worked and not worked in our current system,” so we decided to systematically test it. -more-

Many families in the Bay Area’s large adoption community have challenged the Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s (BPLF) current “Adopt a Book” fundraising campaign slogan. We are deeply disturbed by this unfortunate choice of words. And while we recognize that the usage was unwitting and not intentionally hurtful, we are disappointed that the foundation has ignored our requests to remove the word “adopt” and replace it with an inoffensive yet equally effective one, such as “sponsor” or “read.” -more-

Can we criticize the Catholic Church without having our faith and loyalty called into question? -more-

For nine years now, plans have been in the works to bring a Bay Area water ferry service to the Berkeley-Albany shoreline. The state-created Water Emergency Transportation Agency (WETA) is responsible for developing, and operating this regional ferry system. -more-

There are strange things done -more-